Close Encounters Of The Grimm Kind
by stoner-blake
Summary: Yang and Ruby live day by day as rare metal hunters searching through the galaxy for paydirt, but soon wind up in something much bigger than they ever expected.
1. Chapter 1

No matter where you looked out in the inky darkness of space, there was always the twinkling stars gleaming back at you. Most of them might have only been pinpricks of lights that the vast twilight threatened to snuff out at a moment's notice from the way they kept winking in and out of being seen, but they were still there. The millions of tiny sparkling lights all around made drifting around on a small moon not as scary as it could be, that was for certain.

"How much longer you gonna be, Ruby?" There was a buzz through the figure's intercom, a small panel of blue light flashing up inside her helmet that drew silver eyes to it, the figure of another girl showing up on it, tall and with a mane of blonde curls flowing straight down to her waist. She leaned back in the padded yellow chair behind her, arms moving to cross over the top of her stomach as she did so. "You know we shouldn't hang around here for long, in an unpatrolled area like this."

"Just a couple more minutes, sis." She replied back as she took another step forward in her spacesuit, dust slowly wafting up from the moon's rocky surface as a thick padded boot trod down on it, settling back down as she passed over. The gravity here was weak, a sign to the small distance needed to get out of its orbit. A small scanner held in one gloved hand flashed out a green radar, the circle widening out till it passed out of what the screen could show.

Over the many years since mankind had first been able to take a trip to the Earth's moon, spacesuits may have become affordable and streamlined from the original design with its bubble shaped helmet, and even customizable, once interest in travelling through space had grown enough that at least half the entire population of humankind had done a trip. Ruby's one had been coloured equal parts crimson red and jet black. But there was one thing that they never could seemed to change if they wanted to keep the safety of the person inside their top priority, and that was having so much padding inside that no matter who was wearing one, the form presented would always be androgynous.

Not that it mattered to Ruby much. Quite frankly, it pleased her a little. But the reason why was something for another time, when she wasn't so focused on the scanner at work before her. If they got lucky, it would pick up on something, a special metal that could be used to make weapons with. Finding a moon, asteroid, or any other kind of rock floating through space that had a cache of said metal, so long as it hadn't already been claimed, meant a big payment from companies looking to grab as much as they could find of the stuff. That tended to happen when the military had a high demand for things.

Moving along in long hops, thanks to the low gravity on the surface of the moon, Ruby grew increasingly disappointed from the lack of response she was getting as she bounced nearly all over the small surface area of this rock. Looks like their luck hadn't been with them on this venture. And they would be forced to head over to the nearest space station soon if they didn't find anything. Or at least Yang would force them to.

A new mark on the screen caught her attention, dragging her away from her worries as she looked down at it. There it was, a dot showing up on the radar! And it wasn't even that far off either! Bouncing towards it in excitement, she failed to notice a shadowy shape a dozen meters behind her, drifting along slowly to the only source of disturbance on the moon.

Her leaps soon brought her over to a small cluster of obsidian coloured rocks poking out of the otherwise boring grey dirt. A squeal that only she could hear echoed inside her own helmet as she bounced in place for a moment, before the teen reminded herself that she was supposed to be a professional here. Before she could call it up herself, the blue communication panel flashed up on one side of her helmet.

"Sis! I found it! There's a whole big lum-"

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang ordered swiftly, cutting her off as an alarmed tinge crept into her words. The blonde was no longer relaxing back in the chair, instead leaning forth with both hands pulling on various levers on either side of her. "There's a mass of Grimm incoming, and they're heading your way!"

The name of the virus like organisms that had been spreading across parts of the galaxy put a chill down the girl's spine. Anything living that got in their path, they consumed whole. Her suit would only buy her a bit of time if she ran into one of them, until they tore right through it. And she wasn't sure which option would be worse, being starved of oxygen as the vacuum of space ripped the air out of her lungs until she passed out to never wake up again, or being dinner for one of those Grimm.

Time to head away from the patch of rocks and meet up with Yang to get out of here. Ruby twisted on one foot as she hopped again, turning herself easily to face the other direction.

And to come face to face with a pitch-black mass before her, looming overhead with its height reaching well past twice her own. Two round scarlet shapes floating in the shape looked like eyes, and they also seemed like they were locked onto the girl in front of it. Ruby's breath caught in her throat, afraid to even draw in air as they stared off at each other. She drifted in place, split between wanting to push back with her feet and try running away from it, and wanting to see if it would leave her alone if she didn't budge an inch.

Her feet tapped against the ground as she made her decision, but it seemed the Grimm mass had caught on to her plan just from that. Funnelling part of its shape into a basic, long limb, it lashed out at her, the blow sending her up from the moon and into space. Little gravity to hold her back down to the ground meant that Ruby went sailing, even doing some flips while she flailed and tried to right herself. Petrified, she could catch the occasional glance of the Grimm below, lurching towards her, getting closer with each split second in between her glimpses of it.

A bright golden ray shot out from one side to slam into the mass, causing it to swiftly shrink away from the vulnerable girl as if in pain, though the lack of sound made it hard to tell.

"I've got you Ruby!" Yang's voice came through the comm loud and clear, as a small gold and brown painted ship drifted up into place above the teen, another zap from its gun causing the Grimm to scuttle back even further from its target. The edges of it seemed to vibrate with rage at not being able to get any closer, unless it wanted to get blasted away. A hatch in the belly of the ship opened up, a cable shooting out towards Ruby, sliding into a metal aperture on the back of her suit and between her shoulder blades meant for just such occasions. Hooking itself tightly onto the suit, it yanked her up as it recoiled, the Grimm making another leap at her as the teen was pulled into the ship, only to be driven back by another laser shot.

The hatch closed quickly behind her and the ship worked to change the air pressure in the locked space as Ruby slumped down onto the floor, catching her breath after such a scare. How many people could say they had gone face to face... well, face to more or less shapeless lump, with a Grimm and survived? Not many, that's for sure. Her heart was still racing from the encounter, thumping loud and clear in her rib cage.

She could hear the engines roaring away at the back of the hull as the air pressure in the room finally changed to an acceptable level, the door to cockpit opening with a hiss of hydraulics. Stumbling back up to her feet, Ruby rushed through, taking off her helmet as she staggered through to where Yang was trying to guide the ship into a slingshot round the moon, using its own orbit to boost their own speed.

"Strap yourself in!" The older sister yelled towards her, her face a couple of shades paler than normal. That fact alone was enough to prompt the dark haired girl into not even questioning the order, jumping into a seat behind Yang's and dragging her seatbelt harness into place. "There wasn't just that one! There's a whole crowd of them behind us now!"

"Then activate the turret and let me try and hold them back!" Ruby shouted back, the vibration from the engines making it hard for the pair to hear each other if they spoke normally. It took a couple of seconds before the blonde could give enough attention from the buttons and switches in front of her to give a nod of acceptance back to Ruby.

A pull of a lever at the driver's seat, and the younger girl's seat sunk into the floor, taking her down to a small bubble cockpit, the handles for a large rifle that mostly lay beyond the glass waiting for her. Peering through the hardened glass as she swivelled round to face what lay beyond them, there was a moment of panic at seeing it.

There was so much Grimm, that there were basically a solid cloud moving towards them through the vacuum of space. And from the looks of it, they were bound to make up the distance that lay between them in a matter of minutes, before Yang could make the slingshot around the moon and out into space. There was no time to think, not when she should be acting.

Grabbing the handles of the gun, Ruby aimed it towards the Grimm cloud, the recoil as it fired off red laser beams to them making it jump in her hands. Good thing the target was so big right now, otherwise she'd be running the risk of missing it as the jumping rifle skewed her aim. For now though, every hit was slamming into them, knocking patches out of the cloud and helping to slow its advance down.

Still, it wouldn't be enough. The Grimm were still gaining on the ship, and Yang was still trying to get out of the orbit. No matter how many shots she fired off in quick succession, the meters between the two were being eaten up quickly, and there was nothing more she could do. The only thing they could use was the laser rifle, the cannon that Yang had used to keep knocking back the first Grimm could only face forward, and couldn't be turned to face the cloud that was now starting to threaten to consume the ship, and them with it.

By now, the ship was halfway through turning round the moon, about to try and take off out of the orbit as the cloud was right on their tail, almost close enough to reach out and grab the back of the hull.

Just like how Yang had come to Ruby's rescue earlier, a blue beam shot out from the darkness to zap the emerging blob of Grimm that had been about to latch itself to the ship, its form dissolving as the rest quickly scrambled away, no longer a threat now that something bigger than it had arrived.

"Yes! Woohoo!" The blonde pumped a fist into the air in celebration at their close scrape. A few moments later, Ruby's chair rose back up from the bubble of glass and into its normal position, a grin on her own face as well. But there was a question that needed to be answered now, making it slip off soon.

"But... who was it that shot the Grimm?" The question stopped Yang's fist pumping in mid-pump, the older sister having not yet gotten round herself to asking that.

"Ah..."

There was a buzz of static that interrupted what thoughts she had been about to voice, the signal for an incoming communication. Normally, the pilot would be given a choice to either accept the attempt to communicate or to deny it, but no such option came this time. Instead, a large panel much like the one that had popped up inside Ruby's helmet sprang up to occupy the windshield. A stern woman with her blonde hair tied back into a tight bun glared at them through oval glasses, arms tucked away behind her as she stood to attention.

"I am captain Glynda Goodwitch, of the S.S. Vale. You have been caught trespassing in a quarantined area." Her eyes narrowed some more at the pair she could see on her own screen as she paused, though she didn't wait long enough for an answer back before she continued with the same prim and proper tone as before. "Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Yang leaned to one side of her chair to glance back to her little sister, who was just as confused on what to say as the blonde was. Settling back into her chair to look the other captain in the eyes, she tried to think of a suitable excuse that would get them out of this situation.

"...We didn't know?" Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, with Goodwitch's eyes narrowing even more, before she paused to push her glasses further up her nose.

"Ignorance is no excuse. Either way, I'm using my authority to take you and your ship in to Beacon space station, where you will be processed and charged for your transgressions. This is not up for debate." She added on as the older sister jumped to her feet in anger, violet eyes starting to dye crimson. "This is the law, and you will obey it, or cause further trouble for yourself." She waved a hand to someone to the right of her, and the screen link disappeared in both ships. Wanting to see what ship Goodwitch was commanding, Ruby leaned forward in her seat to look out the side of the windshield.

"Woah." The S.S. Vale was massive, dwarfing Yang's ship by several times. It was like trying to measure a dolphin against a whale. It drifted forward to take the lead in front of them, never going too fast that they wouldn't be able to turn around and blast them if they tried to take off.

Not that they could. Even without the blonde's guidance, the controls were already being set to follow after the larger ship, another sign of the authority they had by taking over the guidance for theirs. Yang sighed exasperatedly and fell back into her chair, sulking. She wasn't sure what was going to happen once they got to Beacon, but she just knew that it wouldn't be anything good.

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	2. Chapter 2

During the whole trip of being dragged behind the S.S Vale, Yang tossed and turned in her seat, an angry sigh slipping out as she sulked away in her captain's chair. This wasn't fair! Normally any time an area was quarantined, their ship would receive an automatic warning if they drew too close to it! So why didn't they get one this time? She kicked out with one boot to the underside of the dashboard in front of her. The only reason they had even gone out to explore the few small moons that held the potential for Scalabite was because there wasn't any warnings about the sector other than intermittent Grimm sightings.

Then, why hadn't they gotten any warning at all if the area had actually been quarantined? Normally, the reason why they did that to a sector of space was cause there was a swarm of Grimm passing through. And those were pretty easy to track their path along, given the destruction they would cause to anything in their way. So they had gotten no warnings that they shouldn't be in the vicinity at all. Not when they entered, not while they were looking around, and not even while being attacked by Grimm. Something seemed to be up. Yang would bet her ship that this wasn't just going to be a warning by the local department.

The Beacon station appeared in their sights a while later, as Glynda's ship shifted to one side to allow the twirling saucer of a station to be seen around them. It was certainly big, far more than the normal patrol station needed to be. Normally, they were no bigger than a normal-sized building back on Earth once you got close. This one, however, soon proved to be big enough to hold a city, or two, or even more, inside of it, looming over even the larger ship of the duo as they drew in underneath it to where there was a smaller pipe like segment. Despite the part being smaller, it was still plenty big enough to hold areas meant for landing ships in, as evidenced by the way that massive doors slid apart in anticipation for the S.S Vale heading straight towards it, the girls' ship following right after.

Turning around in her seat, Yang blew out a breath, still annoyed but trying to keep it down now that they were likely going to have to face whoever was in charge here. A glance over her shoulder proved her assumption that Ruby would be enraptured by the size of the space station, openly staring at it wide eyed and glee written right across her face. In their line of work, they didn't get to see many marvels of technology, something that had become an obsession for the younger sister. It wouldn't be hard to distract her from the chance that they might be in some trouble here. It would probably only take pointing out another piece of tech around the place once they were in and the full realisation of the situation started to sink in.

The blonde placed her hands on the steering wheel in front of her out of reflex as they drew into the landing hanger, knowing that while the other captain had been able to take over their guidance systems, the landing would be up to her if they didn't just want to crash onto the floor. As the engines started to die back, she pulled on a tab set in the middle of the wheel, a few metal struts peeling away under the ship to provide something to stop the belly of the ship from having to hit the ground.

Settling the ship down with a considerable thump that shook its contents slightly, Yang relaxed. Given that they were here to probably get slapped with some official warning or giant fine for being in a restricted space, some glee over an A+ landing was probably not something she should be feeling. But given that the last time the blonde had almost forgotten about it until the very last second, it could be forgiven.

As the massive hangar doors slid shut and the vacuum of space that had come in with them was replaced with recycled air from inside the station, Yang clipped off the seatbelt harness, getting up to find Ruby already out of her seat, staring out a window. Hard to see the reason why, given they were just in a hanger, but Yang guessed the anticipation to see what tech they had hiding away inside was getting the best of her. A small smirk on her face, she walked by, giving a yank to the metal chunk on Ruby's suit as she passed to catch the girl's attention.

"Come on, gotta go meet the welcoming party." Wouldn't do to keep the good captain Glynda waiting, would it now? Approaching the right side of the helm, she pressed a large red button set in the wall, earning a hiss of hydraulics as a doorway to the right of it slid open, as well as a few clanks as a staircase unfolded down to the metal floor outside.

Stepping off to let the metal staircase fold back up behind them as the door closed, Ruby scoped out the hanger, excitement over how big Beacon station had turned out to be mixing with the worry over what would happen to them. There wasn't much to see in here, given you know, the whole not needing anything in here that could fly out or be ruined any time the hangar doors opened, but it was still cool how giant it was.

"Ahem." Peering to the front of their ship, the dark haired girl finally noticed that the bespectacled captain that had only appeared on screen before was now waiting for them, arms crossed behind her back. Not only that, but there was a pair of official looking officers with her, dark forest green uniforms on as they copied her stance. "As much as I hate to admit it, now that we're here, there's someone who wants to meet you."

The sisters spared a glance to each other, the unasked question of who would want them shared, but no answer was found. Most Yang had was whoever supervised the jail here, or the impound lot for space ships. Whatever the case, a minute later, and they had been ushered into an elevator, shooting up from the hangar almost dangerously fast.

As they shot up, one wall of the elevator turned from bland metal sheets to clear hardened plastic, letting the group of people inside look out into a slice of what life was like in the station. Streets, shops and homes, even parks were shown as they moved ever more into an bird's eye view of the place. Even fake sunlight had been simulated for the area, some warmth creeping into the plastic that Ruby had placed her hands on as she eagerly stared down on the spreading scene.

"Wooooow..." She whispered in awe. Yang, on the other hand, wasn't distracted so easily.

"So, who is this guy that we have to meet?" The question came out in a jovial but brisk tone, Glynda tilting her head slightly towards the other blonde to give some attention. "Someone who's gonna give us a fine for the quarantine breach?" That earned a small smirk.

"No, I believe that there will be much more than just a mere fine to talk about." Cryptic, but it also implied that they would getting a much harsher punishment than expected for breaking something that they didn't even know about. A tinge of crimson slipped into Yang's eyes as she rolled that through her head, though a couple of blinks soon wiped it away. Gotta keep it cool. There will be time for exploding all over them later, when things were made clearer.

A ding echoed as the elevator came to a stop, slowing down just enough beforehand to avoid throwing them all into the ceiling, instead making it feel like the contents of their stomachs were trying to escape their prisons. The door opened onto a small hallway, lush green carpet swallowing up their feet as they walked through, stopping shortly as a door appeared on the left hand side.

"Professor Ozpin?" The older captain asked as she opened it slowly to halfway, peering into the room behind it. "I've brought the pair up, just as you wished."

"Excellent." A male voice exclaimed from within. "Show them in."

The guards made as if to follow them all in, but Glynda waved them back, closing the door with a soft click once she and the two metal hunters were inside. The wall opposite them was a bookcase, each shelf packed with as many books of all kinds as could be fitted onto it. To the right, the wall was just all thickened glass, more fake sunlight streaming in from it to warm up the room. And in the middle of the room, a large mahogany desk, papers and folders sprawled across it, a grey haired man in a green suit sitting behind it, clasped hands resting onto the desk's surface.

"Ah, so you two must be Yang Xiao Long, and Ruby Rose." So he already knew their names. Yang watched cautiously as he rose from the plush black armchair to stride slowly to the front of the desk. "Two very well known Scalabite hunters, that have quite the track record between them."

"If you're looking to buy whatever lot of the metal we find next, this is the wrong way to go about it, I'll tell you that much." The blonde said carelessly. She still didn't know what this man wanted, nor why he felt the need to drag it out. Again, her comment drew another small smirk, which caused another bubble of irritation to rise in her.

"No, that's not what I want." He leaned back against the mahogany wood behind him, hands on either side lightly gripping the edge of the desk. "There's no doubt that you're questioning why you were brought in on breaching a quarantine zone. You didn't, that was just an excuse to get you here."

Yang opened her mouth to speak, but he gave a wave of his hand to interrupt her and get back to talking. "If I had just asked Glynda to bring you in once you wandered into this sector, then certain people would be coming around to ask questions as to why. And quite frankly, I'd prefer to avoid that as much as possible. No, I called you in here for something much more."

"Then, what is it?" Ruby spoke up, her expression partly wary, partly confused, and a part curious as well as she looked at the man. Seeing that he had her attention, Ozpin's smirk turned into a closed mouth smile.

"From what I have read of you two, you have many experiences of either narrow escapes by ship from the Grimm, or fighting them off. Some might say that a couple of such events would be natural to any metal hunter's career, but you two have far more than the average track record." Yang shrugged openly, crossing her arms over her chest with the motion.

"That's what happens when you're always pushing to find new clusters before anyone else. It's why we've done pretty well at our job." Maybe they could have played it safe like so many others and hung back in sanctioned areas that had been cleared of Grimm, but then they would have to compete with so many others. And Yang preferred to be ahead of the pack in anything that she did.

"So I've noticed. And that is why you are here now." He raised a cup that neither of them had noticed yet to his lips as he paused. Although it would be easy to think that it was coffee that the man was sipping, the smell of cocoa was wafting up their noses even on the other side of the room. Placing it back down on the desk, on top of a paper with a circled mug stain already on it, Ozpin resumed talking.

"I have a proposition for you both. I'm in need of people experienced in having to deal with the Grimm, and aren't already in the military. I've been developing machines to help further drive back the Grimm organisms that have spread through the galaxy, and they need drivers to control them during battle." Another pause, though this time he raised a hand towards the window next to them, drawing their attention to what lay outside.

"Woah." Ruby let out another awed whisper as they gazed across the factory floor. At least that's what she thought they were looking at, with all the workers scurrying around on walkways and such. Laid down across the vast floor were several humanoid looking robots, their scale setting them at least twenty times bigger than any of the mechanics attending to them. Enraptured by them, she glued herself to the window, still staring out even as the others returned to conversation.

"So, you want us to pilot giant robots and fight Grimm with them, is that the basics of what I'm hearing here?"

"Yes, that about sums it up."

"Why us though?" Yang posed, still wary of this all. "Surely there must be plenty of bounty hunters and explorers that you could ask for. And the military would be all over a way to beat back the Grimm even further, especially if it meant you could retake some home planets from them." The faunus homeworld, for one, which had been one of the many planets overrun with the monsters in the decade before the military could properly organise a way of fending off the virus-like organisms and then guarding against their return.

"Let's just say that this is a project that isn't ready to shown to them yet. Not until I work out a few... bugs." From the way his tone grew serious and quietly harsh at the last word, the blonde worked out for herself that he wasn't talking about the mechs programming.

"...What if we say no then?" They had a pretty good way of life as it was as metal hunters, there was no need to change how it was.

"Then you and I part ways, and I search for other people who might say yes instead. Though I don't expect an answer from you yet. Why not stay a night here, have a rest and come back in the morning after you've both thought about it?" A nod to Glynda, who had been waiting and watching from a corner near the door, and the woman approached Yang's side. Ruby's momentary obsession with the giant robots ended in time to see that they were being ushered out. "I trust you will make what you think is the best decision."

And with that parting comment, Glynda was showing them the door, the guards following them back over to the elevator.

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"So, from metal hunting on moons and asteroids, to giant robots?" Yang asked herself out loud. They had been let out onto street level in the town area that they had seen, and had wandered straight into a park by chance. Once there, the sisters had started strolling down a nature path, admiring how there was even real trees and bushes growing thick on both sides of the path. No one spared them more than one look, obviously used to people walking around the station in their space suits. "I'm not sure I want to make our lives that much more crazy than it already is."

"...I wanna do it though." Ruby had been buzzing the entire time since the meeting with the mysterious mister Ozpin, barely able to contain her excitement about a chance to get up close and personal with an advanced piece of high tech like those mechs. "We'd be able to actually fight the Grimm any time we wanted to, Yang, not just when its one on its own, or a tiny cluster of them! And maybe, just maybe, we could regain some of those planets that were lost."

"I knew reading you all those bedtime stories about heroes to you when we were kids would come back to haunt me somehow." The older sister groaned, even if she did find it adorable the way that her baby Ruby wanted so badly to take this opportunity to play hero and make life better for other people. "Let's just think on it for now, and decide on it in the morning, okay? This is a pretty big decision to make. He hasn't even said if he's gonna pay us anything for it yet." She remembered now forgetting to ask about that, cursing her dumb brain for not thinking to ask of the pay they might get from it.

"Well, I've already decided on what I want, so that's not going to change." Ruby announced, turning around as she walked so that they could both keep moving and face each other at the same time. "I want to do this. I want to make a difference." Yang sighed, knowing that it was going to be hard to point out the downsides to Ozpin's idea to her when the idea of piloting a giant robot, kicking Grimm butt, and saving the galaxy was getting further and further entrenched into her head.

"Ruby-"

She cut herself off as something white crashed into the back of Ruby as they neared a corner, a yelp slipping out as both the girl and the other figure toppling to the ground.

"Owwww..." The smaller teen rubbed her head as she sat up on the pavement, a few aches gained from the fall starting to make themselves known.

"Urgh, you _dolt_." A voice spoke next to her as the figure sat up as well, also taking care of their own bruises. "Why weren't you watching where you were going?"

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